First I got this
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/50737801-79/quarter-profits-corporate-output.html.csp?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Corporate Profits Were the Highest on Record Last Quarter
The nations workers may be struggling, but
American companies just had their best quarter ever.
American businesses earned profits at an annual
rate of $1.659 trillion in the third quarter,
according to a Commerce Department report
released Tuesday. That is the highest figure
recorded since the government began keeping track
over 60 years ago, at least in nominal or noninflation-adjusted terms.
I doubt it's local businesses doing so well, and
of course, the "Masters of the Universe" who
cratered the economy are still raking in huge
salaries and bonuses when they should be behind bars.
then this:
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/signs-of-swagger-wallets-out-wall-st-dares-to-celebrate/?emc=eta1
Wallets Out, Wall St. Dares to Indulge
Exuberance made a comeback this year at Josh
Koplewiczs annual Halloween party. More than
1,000 people packed into a 6,000-square-foot
space at the Good Units night club...The scene
was more extravagant in September, at a 50th
birthday party in Hong Kong for Brian Brille, the
head of Bank of America Asia Pacific.... Wall
Street is back spending as much if not more than
before, said a New York dermatologic surgeon....
Christies auction house says investors are
pouring back in.... Expensive restaurants
report a pickup in bookings.... Wall Street
executives are lining up rentals in the Hamptons
... bidding hotter and heavier than previous years.
And then this - the money-grubbers absolutely
want it all - to force everyone back into serfdom
http://www.truth-out.org/the-shock-doctrine-push-to-gut-social-security-and-middle-class65383
The Shock Doctrine Push to Gut Social Security and Middle Class
Monday 22 November 2010
by: Dave Johnson | The Campaign for America's Future | Op-Ed
Today's Washington Post has punch two of a
one-two punch. Punch one was the Simpson/Bowles
"plan" to cut Social Security, cut middle-class
tax breaks and programs (and dramatically cut
taxes on the rich.) Punch two is pushing this
plan hard with headlines claiming this solution
is actually popular, while shutting out voices
who explain why we shouldn't do this. This is
full-on Shock Doctrine, wait for an emergency
like the terrible recession so people are in
shock and want solutions, and then change
everything so fast they cant respond while
telling them how this is good for them.
This is how they do it, folks, demonstrated by
this story in today's Washington Post:
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/21/AR2010112103919.html?wpisrc=nl_wonk>Consensus
is forming on what steps to take in cutting the deficit,
After an election dominated by vague demands for
less debt and smaller government, the sacrifices
necessary to achieve those goals are coming into
sharp focus. ... Smaller Social Security checks
and higher Medicare premiums. [. . .] the plan
unveiled this month by co-chairmen Erskine B.
Bowles ... and Alan K. Simpson ... has been
respectfully received with a few exceptions by
both parties. Its major elements are also winning
support from a striking line-up of commentators.
[. . .] The strange bedfellows are a "testament
to the moderate nature" of the ideas under discussion.
Consensus? Sharp focus? Here's your "sharp focus": The public hates this!
That headline is the manufactured reality. The
real reality is that the public just hates this,
and has voted against and will vote against politicians who push it.
Last month you saw campaign ad after ad hitting
Democrats who "cut $500 billion from Medicare,"
and Democrats lost the senior vote and the midterms. The public hates this.
A recent
<http://www.ourfuture.org/report/2010114404/election-2010-poll>Greenberg
Quinlan Rosner Research report showed that an
overwhelming 69% of voters agreed that
"politicians should keep their hands off Social
Security and Medicare" when they address the deficit. The public hates this.
<http://ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010114615/six-percenters>Only
6% of the public says the government's priority
should be deficits now. The public hates this.
<http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/social-security-and-younger-americans/>An
AARP poll finds that 90% of people aged 18 to 29
say Social Security is important. The public hates this.
An
<http://www.pollingreport.com/social.htm>NBC/WSJ
poll finds that 57% are against cutting Social
Security no matter how bad the deficit is. The public hates this.
A <http://www.pollingreport.com/social.htm>USA
Today poll finds that the public by 66/31 says
don't cut benefits to fix the deficit. The public hates this.
I can continue citing poll after poll; there are
no polls that show the public is in any way behind this.
It's Clear: The public hates this and will vote
out any politician who does this. If you think
the public didnt like the bailouts and the
politicians who voted for them, this "Deficit
Commission" plan to cut Social Security is the
other shoe dropping. Bailouts helped Wall Street
and not Main Street and people certainly didn't
like that. But this is paying for bailing out
Wall Street by hitting Main Street in the gut. And the public understands this.
But here is today's reality: the public hates
this, and the corporate media tells you how much
you love it. This is how it's done. You have
heard the stories of FDR and LBJ saying "make me
do it," meaning create the public pressure that
forces politicians to do act. This is a story of
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent:_The_Political_Economy_of_the_Mass_Media>manufacturing
consent where the elites,
<http://www.americanretiredseniors.com/senior-finances/peterson-foundation-assault-on-social-security-medicare/>the
Peterson Foundation, the President and the
corporate right are setting up an appearance of
making them do it. (We have a jobs emergency, but
we get deficit commissions instead of jobs commissions?)
The public hates it but the elites are pushing
ahead with their campaign anyway. If you remember
the "run up" to the Iraq War, opposing voices
were simply shut out of the discussion. All the
"serious people" were explaining why we had no
choice but to invade Iraq. And all the headlines
were about the terrible threat that Iraq posed to
our very existence. Seriously, it wasn't just
stories about how Iraq was going to drop a nuke
on us any second now.
<http://www.seeingtheforest.com/archives/2010/10/remember_the_bi.htm>Do
you remember the smallpox scare?, where you
couldn't listen to the radio, read a newspaper or
watch TV without hearing about all the terrible
ways Iraq was going to attack us?
The Simpson/Bowles plan is part of a
<http://ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010114619/simpson-bowles-show-deficit-commission-cover-agenda>pre-arranged
agenda to gut the middle class and further enrich
the wealthy. The media machine is working to
convince DC politicians that the public wants
this done. They scare people with headlines about
the terrifying things that will happen because of
deficits. The only viewpoints you hear are the
cutters and gutters. Those presenting the ideas
the public favors -
<http://schakowsky.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2777:schakowsky-alternative-to-simpson-bowles-deficit-reduction-plan&catid=21:2010-press-releases&Itemid=58>like
the plan offered by Deficit Commission member
Rep. Jan Schakowsky that cuts the deficit but
<http://ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010114617/schakowsky-deficit-reduction-plan-proposal-actually-strengthens-social-securit>actually
strengthens Social Security --
<http://ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010114618/ides-november>are
not heard. And keep telling people how popular and necessary this is.
Result? If you are a politician in DC, you really
have no way to know how the pubic feels because
all you see are headlines like today's Washington
Post, telling you a consensus is forming.
This is why YOU have to respond and let YOUR
members of Congress and Senators know that you
are NOT going to go along with this.
Take Action
There are things YOU can do! November 30 is a
national call-in day to save Social Security.
Do this:
<http://action.ourfuture.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=131>Click
here and sign this petition: Tell President Obama
to Reject Social Security Cuts:
"We must send an urgent message to President
Obama  to tell him to reject the proposal to
slash Social Security benefits coming from the
co-chairs of his deficit commission. If President
Obama tries to cut Social Security, it would spell political disaster in 2012."
Do this:
<http://strengthensocialsecurity.org/media/blog/2010/nov-30th-national-call-congress-day-hands-off-social-security>November
30 National Call Congress Day: Hands Off Social Security,
The Co-Chairs of the National Fiscal Commission
have proposed carving up Social Security like a
Thanksgiving turkey. They want to increase the
retirement age to 69  making us work longer,
deeply cut benefits for middle-class workers and reduce annual Cost of
Living Adjustments. We need your help to stop them!
Join thousands of Americans in a National Call
Congress Day on Tuesday, November 30­CAN
WE COUNT ON YOU?
We need your voice to be heard!
<http://strengthensocialsecurity.org/callcongress>Click
here to make the Count on Me pledge to add your
voice on Tuesday, November 30 and TELL CONGRESS 
DONT CUT OUR SOCIAL SECURITY!